A major problem exists today in the cleaning of modern kitchen/bathroom floors that are covered with the so-called "no-wax" urethane materials. Nearly all these urethane materials are heavily embossed and ordinary cleaning materials and/or applicators do not adequately remove soil from the embossed grooves that are present in the floor covering. Furthermore, the flat surfaces on the floor covering are difficult to clean well enough to restore them to their original lustre. Accordingly, a better cleaning product is needed.
The present invention provides such a product since it has the capability to scrub and clean the grooves as well as the flat sections of the embossed flooring in a manner far more effectively and conveniently than any prior art fabrics presently available.
The preferred embodiment of the present invention consists of a reticulated foam inserted between layers of nonwoven webs and the composite is entangled together by jets of high pressure fluid. This results in a fabric that has foam bristles protruding through it, which allows the fabric to not only clean a flat surface but to scrub within the grooves of the floor covering as well.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,012, there is disclosed a scrub brush made of chemical foam having its own soap supply, which is used in surgical, cosmetics and industrial applications. A disadvantage to this particular type brush is that it is made totally out of foam, therefore having substantial body or stiffness. One other disadvantage is that this prior art brush, being made solely out of foam, will tend to disintegrate when used as a scrub brush for any length of time, because the structure of foam is inherently weak and cannot withstand the abrasion usually encountered in cleaning. Furthermore, the brushes are of a specific geometry, therefore have a minimum available surface area in comparision to a fabric.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,468, there is disclosed a scrub brush comprised of two sections of foam, each having different hardnesses. One section being of relatively soft foam and the other section of substantially harder foam that is sufficiently stiff to carry out the scrubbing required of it. This approach would have the same disadvantages as the aforementioned prior art.
Other prior art relating to the present invention are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,532,588 and 3,441,464. These patents use needle punching to insert a material into a foam base. Disadvantages of this prior art are obvious. Using a needle loom to punch material into foam is a very slow and expensive process. The resulting materials are also different than the present art because soft or flexible fibers are needle punched into the foam. The end result being that a portion of the soft or flexible fibers remain on the surface resulting in a soft surface. This type of material could possibly be used for cleaning purposes, such as wiping a surface, but would not be appropriate for scrubbing because of the soft fibers that extend out of the fabric. Another disadvantage of the aforementioned prior art is that heat is applied, to at least one surface of the prior art fabrics, which bonds the foam and fibers together, thus creating a fabric that is then stiff and not flexible.
The prior art has tried to provide a composite scrub brush that could both clean and scrub, but has not done so prior to this invention. However, this invention allows the foam to protrude out of the material to act as bristles which actually do the scubbing, while the remaining nonwoven material does the cleaning. Although the bristles are firm enough to scrub surfaces, they do not scratch ordinary surfaces, such as floor coverings, pots and pans, dishes, etc.. In addition, because hydrophilic fibers are used in the fabric the fibers may also absorb fluids that may be present in the cleaning procedure.